[Gatsby] How to store a json in Netlify?

[winstonma]

I would like to show a Youtube playlist, that I may update from time to time, on my Netlify Website. I could obtain the playlist info using ytpl.

In order to make the website fast I don’t want to cache the playlist info (JSON) on Netlify use the cached JSON during web page rendering. So I have 2 questions:

1. Is it possible that I could store the JSON on Netlify?

2. Is it possible that I schedule a playlist update everyday?

Thanks for the help

[luke]

Hi, @winstonma. There is more information about what is and what is not possible at Netlify here:

[Support Guide] Can I run a web server, HTTP listener, and/or database at Netlify?

Last reviewed by Netlify Support on December 2022 How do I run a server/database at Netlify? We often get questions about how to run a specific backend server or database at Netlify. Examples of these types of questions include: How to I get my node HTTP listener to respond to requests? How do I start Mongo/MySQL/<insert-some-database-here> running on the server? How can I SSH into my website? We are here today to answer these questions - and the answer is: you can’t! What do you m…

There are several possible solutions for this. Those might include:

• have javascript in the browser make the API call live
• trigger daily site builds which update this list in a static file at build time

Would either of those solutions meet your requirements?

[winstonma]

Thanks @luke. Thanks for the advice.

Since the first option hurts the webpage load speed, so this is something I would like to avoid. And yeah I think daily trigger would be great, but still I have no idea how to store the returned API result during build time. That info/example would be valuable. Thank you very much.

I initially thought I could create an Netlify Function to help getting the Youtube Playlist and store the JSON response as a local file and then use the local file when the web page is being loaded. I wouldn’t need any database.

[luke]

Have you considered outputting the returned information in a local file in the build system’s filesystem, somewhere under the publish directory?

If this is done the playlist would then become specific to each deploy and updated as each deploy occurred. As each new deploy is published, it would contain the updated playlist at the time the deploy occurred. The site can then load the playlist using javascript to fetch the URL for that file.

[winstonma]

Thanks

Just a quick question. As I could run the fetch script during build time and put the json file in the publish directory. Would it be possible that I could create an API that store the result in the publish directory, after it is being deployed?

[luke]

Hi, @winstonma, deploys on Netlify are immutable. There is no way to change an existing deploy. Even if you created an API, there is no way to update a single file on a deployed Netlify site.

The only way to update a published site at Netlify is to create a completely new deploy with all required files and updates. Then that new deploy can be published.

A happy medium might be to do daily deploys to publish an update list once a day and also develop an API to update that list via javascript. The site could then load the file version of the list first and then, after that is complete, check the API to see if a newer version exists and, if so, update the playlist in the background.

[winstonma]

Hi @luke, thanks for the information.

I am testing Netlify CMS. I just deployed the sample site onto Netlify. It seems allow me to make changes on the site. It fits my need of editing on a more or less static site. I think I will migrate my tiny site to this.

Thanks again.

[luke]

Hi, @winstonma, thanks for letting us know which solution you decided on. If there are other questions, you know where to find us.